The Uchiha Clan: Origins
by pinkrose064
Summary: Indra was the progenitor of the Uchiha, along with several other clans, but who was his wife? Were all of his descendants prone to hatred and doomed to disaster, or was there one clan that was different? IndraxOC, SasuSaku Rated T mainly because Indra is a jerk for nearly one-thousand years. ;
1. A Chance Encounter

A dense forest hidden by a wall of stone. A single burst of lightning touched down within. When it vanished, a young man laid it in its wake.

昔々

Ootsutsuki Indra groaned as he opened his eyes, squinting in confusion as his vision cleared. He'd expected to wake up looking up at the open sky, the tops of trees, or, by some miracle, at a ceiling. Whatever was above him was none of those. In fact, if he had to guess, he would say that he was... beneath a tree?

The prodigal son of Hagoromo slowly sat up, eyes widening slightly in surprise as a cloth fell from his forehead. The bed he was in and the blanket that had been laid on top of him both seemed to be made of leaves. Looking around, his eyes fell on a young woman leaning against the roots of the tree and sleeping. There wasn't much that he could tell about her in this light, not given the position that she was in. The only thing he could see for sure was her peculiar hair. It wasn't quite pink, but it wasn't quite red either. It was some strange color in-between the two. Her hair was long, reaching at least to her waist, and her bangs completely obscured her face, leaving him to wonder how she even managed to see. Still, he supposed that she had to have been the person who brought him here, which seemed a notable feat, because if her thin, delicate frame was anything to go by, this girl was far from strong.

The girl groaned softly as she stirred, looking over at Indra and brushing her bangs aside to look at him with vibrant hazel eyes. "Oh, you're awake!" She exclaimed, standing up and walking over to him before sitting down next to him, "I'm sorry. I meant to keep watch while you slept. How are you feeling?" She asked, attempting to brush her bangs aside again, as they had fallen back into her face the moment she released them to sit down.

"I'm fine." Indra said stiffly. He didn't want to say 'thank you', because that would imply that he had actually needed her help, and his pride refused to acknowledge that this thin, weak girl who couldn't see past her own hair had aided him any way, but he also couldn't find the gall to flat-out deny that matter either, being as she did bring him to something along the lines of a shelter.

"Um..." The girl bit her lip hesitantly, but then voiced her thoughts, "Forgive me, my lord, but... where are you from? You just... appeared out of nowhere in a bolt of lightning. I've... never seen anyone do such a thing."

Indra shifted his eyes in calculation of how to respond to her question. He wasn't entirely sure where he was, so he didn't know how to answer her. He hadn't had a particular destination in mind when he had teleported away from his father and brother. "First tell me what country I'm in..."

"Huh?" The girl seemed taken aback, but she answered him anyway, "Oh, this is the Land of Fire..."

The Land of Fire. His knowledge of world geography told him that that wasn't quite as far from his family as he would like, but... it could be worse. Besides... fire seemed... well suited to him.

"I came from a country beyond the Land of That." He answered simply.

"In a single jump?!" The girl gasped in amazement. "I didn't know that people with that kind of power existed in this world!"

Indra smirked in amusement. Clearly this girl was naive about the world beyond her homeland. "There are many who can wield such power, actually, but mine is much greater than most."

"I see..." The girl seemed thoughtful for a moment as she frowned, "Well forgive my insolence, my lord, but all that power is of little use if you exhaust yourself and wind up in a place like this. If I didn't happen to be here, you would probably be dead by now."

At this, Indra raised a brow, unsure whether to take her seriously or not. "Why? What is this place?"

"This valley is known as the Forest of Death." She explained, "It's filled with all sorts of dangerous predators. Some of them poisonous, others large enough to swallow you whole. While I have no doubt that such creatures would not pose a threat to you under normal circumstances, you were in no condition to defend yourself from them last night. You didn't even stir the entire time I dragged you here."

Indra was annoyed by this statement, but mostly because the girl before him was right. He _had_ been utterly defenseless and in a very dangerous place. "And yet you live here?" He asked, trying to steer the conversation away from here.

"Sort of." The girl answered, "Although it's more accurate to say that I simply can't get out. I fell into the river that flows through this valley and was carried in. I finally managed to pull myself out in a spot where the water was more shallow and flowed more slowly, but by then, I was in far too deeply to find a way out. The path the river flows through is too narrow for me to simply go back the way I came." She looked up at the underside of the tree that they were sitting beneath. "I've been managing though. I've found that the spaces beneath trees like this one are too small for the most dangerous of creatures to make their way inside, and I can fend off the others."

"I see." Indra remarked, his eyes narrowed in calculation. Perhaps there was more to this girl than he originally thought. She'd been surviving on her own for a while from the looks of things, in a hostile environment that even trained warriors might lose their lives in, and she _had_ dragged him to her shelter for safety, even though he was sure he weighed at least fifty pounds more than she did.

"Oh, forgive me." The girl said suddenly, "I've been babbling on and on and I haven't even told you my name. I am Haruka."

Haruka. The name suited her somehow. She reminded Indra of a fragile flower in the springtime. "I am Ootsutsuki Indra." He replied.

Haruka nodded in acknowledgment and tried yet again to brush her bangs aside. "Um, are you thirsty? I... I only have one water container, so... we'll have to..." She turned a bit pink at the ears and Indra realized that she was embarrassed about having to drink from the same container as him and suspected that if she had a choice, she would sooner just give him the container and drink from something else, but there wasn't anything.

"Yeah..." Indra replied. Haruka shyly handed over the bamboo drinking container and then moved away from Indra to check on something. When he had finished drinking, he found that she had turned back to him, holding a bowl made of leaves and filled with berries.

"If... If... you're hungry, well... I'm afraid this all I have on hand." She said shyly.

Indra nodded and accepted the bowl, "Have you not had any meat since you came here?" He asked.

"I have..." She said awkwardly, and Indra wondered just how many times she planned on trying to push back her uncooperative bangs, "I've learned to catch fish from the river, but... well, drying them isn't easy, so I only catch them when I plan to eat them right away."

"Hm." Indra said in acknowledgement. When he had his fill of the berries, he stood up. "Wait here. I'm going to check out the landscape a bit."

"Oh. All right."

Haruka did as Indra had said, fiddling around with things in her little shelter while she waited for him to return, which he did at about midday, carrying a bag of some kind in one hand and carrying something much smaller in the other.

"Here." He said as he sat beside Haruka, holding out a water container to her, "I found some bamboo and made a second one."

Haruka blushed. "Oh... thank you." She said while shyly accepting the container.

"Do you have a cooking fire?" He asked her.

"Um... smoke doesn't flow out from under the tree very well, but... sometimes I'll start one in the open space over there." She said while pointing in response to his question. Indra nodded and walked over to the place she had pointed out. He set down the bundle he'd been carrying and gathered various pieces of wood from nearby, piling it together and then, to Haruka's amazement, lighting it on fire using only his breath. He ignored her flabbergasted expression as he reached over and undid the bundle, revealing several pieces of raw meat within, and Haruka belatedly realized that the bundle itself had been a fresh animal skin.

"I caught some wild game while I was exploring." Indra explained, "We'll cook some now and save the rest for later. I'm sure we can use the skin for something once it's been properly tanned."

"Um, right." Haruka nodded as she walked over and sat down on the other side of the fire, watching as Indra prepared to roast some of the meat.

"I also decided to survey the area." He told her, not even looking at her as he finished preparing the meat, "This 'Forest of Death' isn't quite as vast as you believed it to be. Farther out, the trees are smaller. They're still tall, of course, but not as massive as the ones around here. I imagine that the large predators that you spoke of prefer to live among these larger trees, so we should head over in that direction."

"All right." Haruka said, fruitlessly trying to brush her bangs aside once more.

Indra sighed in exasperation when he saw this and moved closer to her. "Close your eyes and hold still." From what he could see of her face, Haruka looked moderately confused, but she obeyed him without asking. Indra retrieved a kunai from within his clothes and carefully gripped Haruka's bangs, pulling firmly enough that they were taut, but not so much that it would hurt her. He activated the Sharingan to improve his accuracy and then carefully cut her bangs straight across in a single motion, so that they fell just between her eyebrows and her eyes. "There." He said in satisfaction, throwing the hair that he had cut off into the fire. Haruka opened her eyes and blinked in shock when she realized what he had done. "I'm no expert in cutting hair, so I can't guarantee it looks good, but at least now you won't have to keep trying to hold it aside to see." Haruka looked down at her lap quietly, blushing lightly, and Indra quirked a brow, trying to determine whether she was somehow embarrassed about her appearance or just afraid to speak her mind. Maybe both? "Since it's unlikely that you would've survived winter out here, you must've been trimming them before you wound up here, given that your hair is significantly longer. Is there a reason that you allowed them to grow right over your eyes like that?"

Haruka looked away slightly, blushing further. "My forehead..." She said almost too quietly to hear. Indra raised a brow.

"What about it?" He asked bluntly.

"It's big..." Haruka replied, "Everybody makes fun of it... Makes fun of me."

"So your solution was to try to hide it by growing your bangs so long that you couldn't see and then get yourself lost in a deadly forest?" He asked incredulously, although it was almost more of a deadpan statement.

Haruka's ears turned even pinker, "I used to keep them shorter than _that_, but... I didn't really have a way to deal with them out here. You're not entirely wrong about the other part though." She hugged her knees to her chest, "I'm a servant in the Daimyo's castle. I have been since I was young. The other girls who worked there all made fun of me. Female servants in the castle basically belong to the daimyo. The only way for us to leave is if a man buys our freedom in order to marry us. They all said that would never happen to me, because I have a small chest and no curves and a big forehead. There's absolutely nothing about me that would indicate I could be a good mother, except for my wide hips, so why would any man want me? One day I'd just had enough. I wasn't thinking and I... I ran... I just wanted to get out of the capital for a while, but when I realized that the guards were looking for me, I got scared and kept running and then I dove into the river to avoid them, but the current was stronger than I anticipated and... well... here I am."

"You're rather wreckless." Indra remarked.

"I know..."

"At any rate, what does it matter if your forehead is big? Appearance is hardly important. You're a surprisingly strong girl for your size, and obviously smart and resourceful. I'd like to see any of the women who made fun of you survive out here for as long as you have. In fact, I'd like to make you my student."

At this, Haruka looked up at Indra, and for the first time, he got a clear look at her clear, hazel eyes. They were almost like gold. "Your student?" She asked in surprise.

Indra turned his attention back to the food and nodded, "I came to this land to find followers. All of the things you've seen me do, the lightning, the fire, they're things that any person can do, at least to a point. As I said before, I have significantly more power than most, but every human possesses the potential if taught. That said, my teachings are not for the faint of heart, but I would hardly consider you to be faint of heart."

"You would teach me even though I'm a girl?" She asked in surprise.

"The ability to wield this power has nothing to do with whether one is a man or a woman."

"I see. Forgive me, but... what are these teachings of yours called?"

Indra stopped to consider this, "It's a variation on my father's teaching, which was called Ninshu. However, Ninshu does not involve the things you've seen me do, which are called jutsu."

"Then... perhaps it should be called Ninjutsu?" Haruka offered, "Jutsu means 'technique', so it would be like, 'techniques of Ninshu.'"

"Hm." Indra nodded in approval before deciding that the meat was done and offering a piece of it to Haruka.

昔々

When they had finished eating, Indra led Haruka to the area he's spoken of. He used his jutsu to create a temporary shelter out of the earth, and then headed off to the nearest village that Haruka knew of to obtain supplies for building something more permanent. The young woman was rather surprised when he returned by using the Susano'o to carry it all.

"I'll work to build it as fast as I can." Indra told her. "The sooner we have a proper training hall, the sooner I can begin teaching you."

"All right." Haruka said with a nod, walking over to him with an earthen bowl that he had made, "Here. Whatever that thing was must've taken a lot energy. This mash will help you to recover from that. It probably doesn't taste very good, but... it's effective."

"You know how to make such a thing?" Indra asked, eating some of the substance and resisting the urge to grimace at the taste.

"I was a pharmacist in the Daimyo's palace." She admitted.

"A noteworthy occupation for a woman." He said with interest.

"Yes." Haruka said with a shy nod, "It's normally not even considered, but... the royal physician took note of my high intellect when I was a child and thought it would be a waste for me to be nothing more than a common maid."

"Hm." Indra nodded, feeling that the physician had been right. Perhaps that was why Haruka was more stouthearted than most women he had met. "Do you know how to make your own clothes?"

"Huh?" She looked up at him in confusion, "Yes, I do, but why?"

"I obtained some cloth from the village as well." He informed her, "Your current clothing is getting worn, and besides, it's not appropriate for learning my teachings. Make something for yourself that you can move freely in."

"Oh. All right."

昔々

That night, as Haruka slept in the temporary shelter that Indra had made, the enigmatic young man himself went off a ways to talk to the creature that had been advising him for years.

"I'm aware that it would pointless to have feelings for her." He remarked, "First I'm going to find out if she is worthy. After all, no man, no matter how powerful, can produce progeny without a woman."

* * *

This is a prelude to the Uchiha Clan series, because obviously, if Indra had descendants, then he also had a wife at some point. He didn't exactly seem like the type to screw around with various women. Also, yes, Haruka intentionally resembles Sakura to a point. Her name means "Spring Flower".


	2. One Who is Worthy

Although he had said that Haruka was more stouthearted than most women, Indra was surprised to find out just how much that was true after he completed the dojo that also served as their home for the time being. Even his father's students had been intimidated by Indra's strict instruction techniques, but Haruka seemed to thrive from it. Even when she repeatedly messed up, his harsh rebukes only seemed to motivate her.

In truth, this was because for most of her life, Haruka had been criticized for things beyond her control. As a result, she viewed Indra's every criticism, however harsh, with the belief that it was meant to be constructive. He was telling her what she was doing wrong so that she could correct it. He believed that she _could_ succeed in learning his teachings, and that alone drove her to push herself to her limits.

For his part, Haruka was something of an experiment for Indra. In addition to testing her worthiness for his secondary goal, he was seeing just how well he could mold one pupil before seeking to take on others. Thus far, he was not dissatisfied with the results. If anything, he was refreshed by Haruka's eagerness to learn and her utter adoration for him. He suspected that if he claimed to be a god, she would believe him without question.

When he felt that she had developed a solid grasp of taijutsu, he shared some of his chakra with her in order to active her body's own ability to produce it, and then began teaching her ninjutsu. Her taijutsu was actually a bit lacking in his opinion, but he suspected that had more to do with her petite frame than actual technique, so he wasn't as picky as he might have been with a more sturdily-built student. To his surprise, although Haruka seemed to be incapable of producing much chakra on her own, she quickly mastered the ability to control it with utmost precision. In fact, she was easily more talented at this than his younger brother Ashura had been. She also proved to be fairly resilient against genjutsu, although she didn't appear to have much talent for casting it. Given her background as a pharmacist, Indra felt fairly certain that she would be capable of great things with the Mystic Palm Technique.

About two weeks after she began learning ninjutsu, Haruka started disappearing into the forest in the early morning before returning to have breakfast with Indra, eating some of her chakra-replenishing mash alongside the meal. When he asked her the reason for this, she only replied that she was trying to work something out on her own and would show him when she felt she had succeeded. She also began contemplating a way to work the mash into a more solid and transportable—if not more appetizing—form.

It was another two weeks later when she declared that she had perfected what she had been working on and Indra took her to a clearing so that she could show him. That said, even he could not hide his surprise when she smashed her bare fist into a large boulder and it crumbled to pieces.

"Since I can't help being slender, I thought maybe I could improve the effectiveness of my taijutsu techniques by combining them with Chakra Control." She explained as she turned around.

Indra managed to hide his amazement from her and nodded, "Well thought out and well executed. With a technique like that, no man will be able to overpower you through brute force alone." Although he had purposely left out the fact that even he could not combine his Chakra Control with Taijutsu so precisely, Haruka nonetheless beamed at what she considered to be the highest of praise from him. Fortunately, she failed to realize that Indra also believed that he himself would no longer be able to overpower this girl, at least not without ninjutsu or genjutsu. It was a good thing she had never once gotten angry at him. If she ever did, she might very well shatter his bones. He turned back in the direction they had come from, "Come on. I want to teach you a new jutsu that I think you will be well-suited to." Better to teach her the Mystic Palm Technique now, just in case.

As he had expected, she possessed a great deal of talent for that particular technique.

昔々

Roughly a week later–for that was all the time that Haruka had needed to master Mystic Palm–Indra decided to shift gears.

"Haruka." He said to her as they finished breakfast one morning.

"Yes my lord?" Haruka asked with the same pure smile that she always had when they weren't training.

"I've come to a decision about you." He told her simply.

"A decision?" Haruka asked in confusion, tilting her head.

Indra nodded, "I am more than satisfied with your ability to adapt to my teachings and rather impressed by your ability to accept criticism. Not even half my father's students had anywhere near the amount of spirit that you do. That is why I have decided that I would like to make you my wife, if you wish to be so."

Haruka's eyes widened into saucers, "Me, my lord? But... I'm..." Her gaze became downcast, and Indra resisted the urge to sigh. She never showed this kind of insecurity during training.

"The size of a woman's chest does not impact her ability to nurse an infant." He stated matter-of-factly, "I have seen many women, smaller than yourself, who have had no difficulty with bearing or nursing children. Besides which, your intelligence is something that I would like my children to inherit, to say nothing of your talent for ninjutsu."

Haruka blushed and slowly looked up at Indra through her lashes, "...If you truly want me, my lord, then I am yours."

Indra nodded to her and led her back into the dojo, gesturing to the futon he had prepared while she was making breakfast. "Lie down." He told her simply. Haruka's blush deepened, but she did as he said, her face a mixture of shyness and nervousness. Indra removed his robe, although he remained otherwise clothed for the time being, and then climbed on top of the young woman. Whatever inward insistence he might've had that he had no use for romance, he couldn't deny the thought that the fragile girl beneath him was beautiful. Her thin, delicate frame, which made her appear almost like a porcelain doll, was something that he felt an inexplicable need to make his own.

He cupped the back of Haruka's head with his hand and lifted her face to his, kissing her softly, and she shyly kissed back. As the kiss deepened, Indra slid his hand beneath Haruka's training blouse, feeling pleased by contours of her abdomen, the firmness of which had no doubt developed as a result of his teachings. For her part, Haruka let out a shiver and then a small moan in response to this, her body finally starting to relax...

昔

Haruka awoke several hours later, momentarily confused as to why she was even in bed until she remembered what had happened. Holding the bedspread to her bare form, she attempted to sit up, but instead winced and hissed softly in pain.

"You should probably just rest and let your body recover." Indra told her. She looked over to find him sitting nearby with his clothes on. From the looks of things, he had been meditating and had only stopped when he realized that she had awakened.

"Why does it hurt so much?" Haruka asked in a slight daze as she laid back down, pulling the bedspread to her chin. "I mean, I know of course that that's normal, but, I don't remember it hurting when we were..."

"I put you under a genjutsu so you wouldn't feel the pain." Indra admitted. "The pleasure of the act serves to facilitate reproduction. It loses its purpose if you're in pain."

"Oh."

"Once we've had time to acclimate, I'll begin recruiting more students." He informed her, "You've become skilled enough now that you'll be able to assist them in learning."

"What about the Daimyo?" Haruka asked with concern, "I mean, I'm still technically a runaway..."

"I will settle matters with him." Indra assured her, "It would be troublesome to have him for an enemy if I am to establish my teachings in this land."

昔々

Indra did as he said and settled things with the Daimyo regarding Haruka's freedom, although Haruka wasn't exactly sure to what extent he had used his power to ensure it ended peacefully. He then began accepting students from anywhere and everywhere, though he continued to train Haruka in private everyday. She was leagues ahead of those who were just beginning, but there was still much that he could teach her. The teachings of ninjutsu valued power above all else, it would not be appropriate to allow his students a chance at surpassing his wife.

In terms of teaching, Haruka was the exact opposite of her husband. She was kind and encouraging to those who struggled, and happy to heal any wounds that people incurred while training. Indra did not discourage her methods for the most part, as he found that some of the beginners did better under her gentle tutelage before they moved up to his far stricter standards. Those who needed to build their confidence first could do so more easily under Haruka than they could under Indra's intense gaze.

However, although Haruka was fairly well known amongst Indra's followers as being more gentle when teaching, she was still well-respected by them. She often broke up quarrels that rose up among them (Indra did not have the patience for this), and if the parties involved were too stubborn to acquiesce, she wasn't afraid of punching a crater in the ground to remind them of their place. Men and women were equal in this settlement, and even if they weren't, _she_ was Indra's wife. Her own strength aside, Indra had made it abundantly clear from the beginning that defying her was not going to be tolerated.

It so happened about four weeks after he had established his sect that Haruka came to Indra with the news that she was pregnant. This did not surprise Indra, as he had noticed that she had not had her monthly bleeding, but it had now been confirmed by the settlement's doctor, who had been Haruka's mentor in the Daimyo's palace and had joined them out of a fondness for his student. At this point, Indra insisted that Haruka take a break from training, concerned that overextending her chakra would bring harm to herself and their child. Haruka complied with this, although she still continued to watch over the training of the students he had placed in her care and hone her skills in iryouninjutsu. She and her mentor had become more like equals at this point, with Haruka teaching her former shishou how to use the iryouninjutsu taught to her by Indra while he continued to teach Haruka what he knew of the human body.

Their settlement itself was in the area that Haruka and Indra had already been living in, although a new, larger training hall had been built and the original one now served as hers and Indra's home. The students were required to build their own dwellings and Indra even took some of them into the Forest of Death for survival training. Haruka thought that this was too extreme, but Indra maintained that _she_ had survived on her own there for months _before_ she even knew the first thing about ninjutsu. It was only natural to expect his students to manage to survive there for a few days. Although this bothered her, Haruka still said nothing to him whenever she noticed that someone was missing when he returned from these excursions. She loved Indra, and unlike most of his students, she didn't fear him. However, she still felt that it was not her place to openly challenge her husband and leader of their settlement. Doing so might sow seeds of disobedience among his followers, which would inevitably create more conflict and cause more deaths later on.

昔々

The child that Haruka gave birth to was a boy. She had wanted to name him after Indra's father, insisting that regardless of their estrangement, the man was still responsible for Indra's very existence, which she was grateful for. Indra refused this request, but eventually acquiesced to naming their next son after his father. Instead, the baby boy was named Uchiha, as Indra had said that he was born with chakra that had a strong fire property, and so he was named after a fan used to stoke flames. Haruka suspected there was more to it than just this, but she didn't bother to ask.

Roughly three years later, Haruka gave birth again, this time to a little girl. Indra was not bothered by this as some men might have been. The child was given the name Kaguya, after his grandmother, for two reasons. The first was that the child's white hair was reminiscent of what he had heard that his grandmother had had, and second, he said that based on Haruka's insistence on naming a son after his father, it was just as fitting to name a daughter after his grandmother. Besides, he couldn't remember the name of his biological mother. When asked about the names of her own parents, Haruka admitted that she had no memories of them. Whatever resemblance Kaguya bore to her grandmother, Haruka also noticed that both children inherited different features from their father. Uchiha had his father's eyes, delicate features, and untamable brown hair, whereas while Kaguya's eyes were the same shape as her father's, they were the same hazel color as Haruka's, and her hair was as silky as her mother's.

And so it was that their third child was named Hagoromo, but that was by no means where their bloodline ended. Neither Indra nor Haruka seemed to be lacking in fertility by any means. What amazed Haruka was that nearly all of the children were born with special abilities. Kaguya could manipulate her bones in various ways. Their second daughter, Yuki–who had been so named because Haruka often complained of being cold when she was pregnant with her, and because it was snowing on the day that the child was born–had the ability to create ice out of nothing. Their third son, whom Indra had named Kurama, after a beast that his father had created out of chakra, was extraordinarily talented in genjutsu. Their third daughter, Rinha, could absorb a person's chakra and duplicate their appearance and memories. The fourth son, Iburi, could turn his body into smoke (Haruka sometimes feared that he would flat-out blow away). Then there were the twins, Konsa and Konu. Haruka had nearly had a heart attack when she woke up after a difficult labor and learned that they were conjoined, fearing that they would be unable to survive (she wasn't even sure how she managed to birth them like that), but Indra's Sharingan enabled him to discern that the twins, in fact, had the ability to join their bodies or separate them at will. Haruka still never quite got over the shock regardless.

Of all the children, it was only Uchiha who inherited Indra's Sharingan. However, it would be the final child who changed everything.

* * *

So two notes: First, I am not by any means listing the children in order of birth necessarily, with the exception of Uchiha, Kaguya, and Hagoromo being the three eldest. The kids are roughly three years apart in age (with the exception of the twins), because Haruka was about 20 when she married Indra and having given birth eight times, she's already 44 or 45. I have no idea how old Indra is.

At any rate, this was not meant to be a long story. It more serves as a prelude to the Uchiha Clan series, so it's only going to be about four chapters long.

Also, with regards to the children and their names: it is my general belief that all clans with Kekkei Genkai descended from Indra, Ashura, or from Hamura. It just makes better since. The Kaguya clan seem to be descendants of Indra, as Kimimaro bore a resemblance to Indra. Very little is known about the Hagoromo Clan, but since they were allies of the Uchiha and not the Senju, it is more likely that they were Indra's descendants. Alternatively, they could've just come from followers of Indra who named a child after his father, but it was easier this way.

I also generally believe that some Kekkei Genkai developed as a result of the merging of bloodlines, especially with regards to visual prowess. For this reason, I didn't bother to lay out every clan. Although they are twins, Konsa and Konu formed a single clan, which two members of the Sound Ninja Four (Which was really the Sound Ninja Five if you think about it), descended from. For the most part, clans that had histories of hatred or just general misfortune descended from Indra while all the others came from either Hamura or Ashura in this story. Keep in mind that we never actually know how many children Hamura had. We know that he had at least two, since both Toneri and Hinata descended from him, but we are never told if he had any others that returned to the planet as the Hyūga did.


	3. Abandonment

Haruka's ninth pregnancy was extremely difficult, and given that she was in her mid-forties, she and Indra both knew that it would probably be her last. Indra was fine with that. Haruka had already given him nine healthy and powerful children to be his legacy. He would feel no despair at the thought of his wife being unable to birth another after this one, although he likely would spend less time being intimate with her after this child was born. After all, he had no need for romance, and never had. Any affection he had for Haruka was due to her talent for ninjutsu-none of his students ever managed to surpass her, although their children had-and her capacity to bear his children and nurture them. That particular need had been filled. He had already decided that it would be Uchiha's descendants that he would reincarnate among, as his eldest child was also the only one to inherit his Sharingan from what anyone could tell. And Uchiha had already had a child with his own wife, a talented young girl from the sect with hair as black as midnight, but who nonetheless resembled Haruka in other ways. Even so, what Indra had not anticipated was the news that his brother had come to the Land of Fire in search of him on the day that Haruka went into labor. Contrary to all of their other children–save for the ornery twins–she was unable to deliver this one with anything resembling ease.

As Haruka lay on her futon, her breathing labored due to the difficulty that she was having, Indra looked out the door of their home before turning to her.

"I can't wait any longer." He told Haruka, a coldness in his voice that she had never heard directed at her before, "Ashura is already too close as it is. If I come to blows with him, it will put our other children and all of my followers in danger."

"Wait... Indra... What are you saying...?" Haruka asked weakly, her voice filled with confusion.

"I hate my brother, but I know he won't harm a defenseless woman struggling to give birth, if you and the child are even still alive when he arrives here." Indra said bluntly, "I'm taking everyone else and moving away from here."

Haruka's eyes widened in shock as she understood Indra's intentions and her eyes filled with tears. "No... Indra, please... don't leave me...! I love you!"

"I have no need for things like romance. I never have." Indra told her coldly as he walked over to her, "I'll tell the others that you and the child died. That's probably what's going to happen anyway."

"Indra... please..." Haruka begged as he knelt next to her.

"Haruka..." Indra began slowly, "Thank you."

Suddenly the world went black.

昔々

"She's coming around!" Haruka heard a woman's voice calling as she slowly opened her eyes. A woman about her own age was sitting beside her, wearing a robe that vaguely reminded Haruka of what Indra had worn in the early days after she met him. However, this was not a woman that Haruka recognized. Her eyes and hair were both black, and her hair was pulled into two low twin-tails behind her back. Her expression was deeply concerned. "How are you feeling? Are you all right?"

Haruka groaned softly and murmured in a daze, "Indra..."

"Indra?" The woman asked in confusion, looking a little shocked, but not overly alarmed.

Clarity began to return to Haruka's eyes and she became aware of what was more important in that moment. "My baby... is my baby...?"

The woman seemed a bit relieved by this question and smiled warmly at Haruka. "Your baby is all right. My husband and I got here just in time to save you both. Would you like to meet him? Your little boy I mean." Haruka nodded weakly and the woman turned as a young lady with brown hair came forward with a small bundle in her arms. The older woman took the bundle and lowered the child so that Haruka could see him. "He's a bit on the small side. I suspect that you went into labor a bit earlier than you should have, but he's healthy as far as we can tell, although..."

"What is it?" Haruka asked with concern.

"...I think I should let you talk to my husband first..." The woman said, "I'll go get him." She gently set the baby boy down and walked to the door.

Haruka studied her child more carefully. He had the same reddish-pink hair as her. That was odd. All of their other children had had either white or brown hair. None of them had ever really resembled her. He seemed to have a large forehead like she did too, although it was possible that he would outgrow that. Even though... Indra had said he had liked her forehead. _"It's a sign that you're an intelligent woman."_ He had told her. She wondered if that was true; not about her forehead, but if Indra had liked it. Had her husband ever really loved her?

Her musings were interrupted as a man entered the room. It only took Haruka a few seconds to realize who he was. "...Ashura?" She asked tentatively.

His eyes widened slightly, but then he nodded at her, "Yes. I am Otsutsuki Ashura. And you are?"

"...Otsutsuki Haruka..."

"My sister-in-law." Ashura, sounding as if she had merely confirmed what he had already suspected.

"Yes..." Tears filled her hazel eyes, "Or at least... I was... but... when I went into labor and began having difficulties... and Indra heard that you were coming..."

"He abandoned you and the child?"

Haruka nodded and the tears began to flow, "I don't understand... We were married for over twenty years... I was his very first student..." Her gaze fell and her lip quivered, "I thought he loved me..."

"Even if he wouldn't admit it, he probably did." Ashura told her gently as he knelt beside her, "But from the time we were children, a dark presence has influenced my brother and caused him to go astray. It probably convinced him that when you were unable to give birth easily, you had outlived your usefulness, and that he had no further need of you."

Haruka sniffled, "Indra said that you wouldn't harm me, but I didn't expect that you would be so kind... with the way that he..."

Ashura looked slightly confused, "You are also somehow different than I would've expected my sister-in-law to be. Did you never bear witness to Indra's darkness?"

"Sometimes..." Haruka admitted, "But it was never once directed at me. He was incredibly strict with his students. There were those who couldn't handle that. And there were sometimes deaths during his training exercises. But when he was just training me... I wasn't afraid of his strict standards. If anything, I liked being pushed to my limits... And he would praise me from time to time... or occasionally compliment on things unrelated to Ninjutsu, although the compliments were always practical." She sniffled again. "We had nine children together. I never thought that he..."

Ashura quietly took out a scroll and held it out to Haruka, "We found this beside you when we got here. I think that you should read it."

Haruka hesitantly opened the scroll and began to read it, instantly recognizing Indra's handwriting.

_Haruka,_

_If you are reading this, then it seems you survived, and that in itself is a testament to your strength. If the child has also survived, then he or she will be **your** legacy. Therefore, name the child after yourself. You don't ever have to forgive me. If you hate me forever, I have no right to blame for that. Raise the child as you will. I also have no right to make demands about that since I left you behind._

_Indra_

Haruka sighed as she set down the scroll. Ashura gently placed his hand on her own, "Neesan, you are welcome to stay with my family for as long as you need."

"Thank you, Ashura-kun." Haruka said with a nod, "I think I will stay. At least until my son is old enough to fend for himself. When she indicated that she wished to hold her child, Ashura carefully placed the sleeping infant on her chest. Holding him close to her, Haruka looked thoughtful. "Hey... One night, a while back, Indra suddenly vanished, and when I asked him where he had gone after he returned, he said that he had visited your father on his deathbed. What did he say to him?"

Ashura frowned, "Are you sure you want to know?"

"I don't wish to be subjected to any further illusions about my husband."

Ashura nodded in understanding before looking down solemnly, "He swore that he would destroy myself and my descendants, even if he had to reincarnate among his own to do it. When Father told me this, I vowed in turn that I would also reincarnate among my descendants until the day that we are reconciled."

"I see..." Haruka said thoughtfully. She looked deep in thought for a moment as she rubbed her child's back. "...Then I shall do the same."

"Huh?" Ashura asked in confusion, and Haruka looked up at him.

"I know that Indra will choose to reincarnate among the descendants of our eldest, who is the only one of our children to possess the Sharingan. So I will reincarnate through the bloodline of this little one, our youngest, until the day that Indra comes back to me." She looked up at Ashura with tears in her eyes once again. "Please promise me, Ashura-kun. Promise me that you'll bring him back to me someday."

Ashura's eyes widened, but then he smiled kindly and nodded. "I will. I swear I'll bring him back, Neesan. I never go back on my word."

Haruka looked at her sleeping newborn with a smile, "No matter what he says, I could never hate him. I will always love him. I will instill in you that same love... Haruno."

* * *

So it was probably obvious that Haruka was based off of Sakura. The Haruno became a clan that believed that if you truly loved someone, you didn't give up on them, no matter what. Also, the reason for Haruka's hair color is that it is that rather than being flat-out pink like Sakura's, it is closer to the color of Sakura's father. Haruno is the only one of Indra and Haruka's children to inherit this hair color, as well as his mother's eye color. He is weaker than all of his siblings not only because he lacks a Kekkei Genkai, but also because he was born a little too early, and while he survived, he was never as strong as he might have been otherwise. Women really should not be having kids at 45. Haruka never told him who his father was, as she didn't want Haruno to bear hatred toward Indra, having become aware too late of the seeds of hatred that Indra had planted in their other children.


	4. Epilogue: Redemption

Bright pink hair and intelligent green eyes.

Uchiha Sasuke could not understand why he felt so instinctively drawn toward Haruno Sakura. Other than her keen intellect, there was nothing impressive about the girl. Heck, she was worse at Taijutsu than Uzumaki Naruto, and _that _was saying something.

Nonetheless, even if he pretended to ignore her existence, he couldn't help watching her every move when he found the opportunity to do so without being noticed. By the time they graduated from Konohagakure's Ninja Academy, he had made up his mind that _she_ would be the one that he restored his clan with. Perhaps that was what drove him to constantly shield her from danger during their missions.

It had been mere coincidence that they had been placed on the same three-man squad, along with the aforementioned Uzumaki Naruto, but for some reason, Sasuke didn't really mind that. He certainly preferred her to any other girl in his class, and since the gender ratio of the Academy was one girl for every two boys that attended, it was pretty much a given that a three-man cell would have two guys and a girl. Better Sakura than any of the others. She might not have had much talent, but at least she had a tolerable temperament. He would _not_ be able to put up with someone brimming with false overconfidence like Yamanaka Ino or zero confidence at all, false or otherwise, like Hyūga Hinata. Both girls were cowards (although at least Hinata had the decency to admit it on her part), but Sakura was courageous despite her naivety. She was more than willing to put herself between a client and an enemy. It just so happened that he—or occasionally Naruto—would always jump in front of her before anything could happen.

今時

Sasuke was leaving Konohagakure. He couldn't stay here anymore. He had gotten too close to his comrades on Team 7. He would never gain the strength to take down his brother like this. However, as he made his way out of the village, Sakura showed up and begged him not to go, or at least, not to leave her behind. She was so afraid of not having him in her life that she was even willing to come along. He couldn't allow that. Sakura was a delicate spring flower who would undoubtedly be crushed and ruined by the darkness he was about to enter. He wouldn't allow that.

"Don't go!" Sakura screamed as he walked away from her, "If you leave, I'll scream and—" She stopped short as Sasuke vanished from in front of her and she almost instantly felt his presence behind her instead.

"Sakura..." Sasuke began, a soft breeze blowing past the two of them as he continued to stand directly behind her, "Thank you."

Sakura's eyes widened as Sasuke struck the back of her neck, and then her eyelids drooped as her legs gave out. "Sasuke... kun..." She murmured as she lost consciousness. Rather than leave her there in the street, Sasuke scooped her up and laid her on a nearby bench.

今時

Sakura stood at the A-Un Gate with tears spilling down her cheeks, having come to see Naruto off, along with the others who had been assembled to take Sasuke back from the ninja of the Hidden Sound. "Naruto...! This is a once in a lifetime request...! Please... bring Sasuke-kun back!" If only Sakura has known exactly how many times that "once in a lifetime request" had been made.

Naruto grinned and gave her a thumbs up, "Yeah! Don't worry! I swear I'll bring Sasuke back!"

Though she didn't know why, as the time had passed since they'd become Team 7, Sakura had come to think of Naruto as a brother. She knew he wanted more than that, and she often reacted to those requests with violence. However, deep down, she was aware that his attraction to her was due to a need to compete with Sasuke, and so she rebuffed him not only because she was incapable of returning his feelings, but also because she possessed an awareness that he lacked about his own emotions. Besides, she knew that, unlike her, Hyūga Hinata was deeply in love with the blond, and she could never hurt Hinata by returning Naruto's affections insincerely. She couldn't hurt Naruto that way either for that matter. It would be nothing but false.

Sakura was, of course, unaware of the thousand-year-long family feud that she was swept up in, and the connection that her own scarecely known Haruno clan had to it. The cycle repeated about every three generations or so. A member of the Uchiha—always someone from the head family—would meet a member of either the Senju or the Uzumaki Clan and they would somehow become best friends. During this time, the Uchiha boy would inevitably meet a girl from the Haruno Clan and they would fall in love. However, it never failed that the Uchiha would betray both his friend and his lover, and the friend, who was also like a brother to the girl, would promise to bring her lover back to her, but would ultimately fail.

Without knowing it, perhaps this was the reason that when Naruto was brought back to Konoha, having been beaten to a pulp by Sasuke but nonetheless determined to bring him back someday, Sakura made the decision that she would go with Naruto the next time and pour her own efforts into convincing the Uchiha to return to where he belonged.

Haruka had stood by and depended on Ashura for nearly a thousand years to bring Indra back to her. It was high time that she lent him a hand.

There were many things that Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto did not know. They didn't know that Nakano Shrine, which housed the tablet that had been passed down in the Uchiha Clan, was the original home of Indra and Haruka during the early years they spent together (somewhere during the time of Haruka bringing nine children into the world, they had built a new dwelling for themselves out of necessity). They didn't know that the 44th training ground, also known as the "Forest of Death", where Sakura had put everything on the line to protect Naruto and Sasuke, was also the place where a girl named Haruka had saved the life of Ōtsutsuki Indra. They were completely unaware of the strange cycle that they were caught in, like a maelstrom they couldn't escape. Yet, perhaps that was why Naruto lived up to his name and managed to create a counter-maelstrom to free them all.

今時

Sakura had been knocked out cold by Sasuke once again; this time, by a powerful genjutsu. Despite her incredible resistance to genjutsu—people said that her strength of mind was unparalleled—she probably would've been out for several days at the very least if the Sage of Six Paths had not revived her while he was still on the battlefield following Sasuke and Naruto's departure. His time was short, but he gave Sakura a brief overview of her own part in this story (she already knew about Indra and Ashura) and chose to make one thing expressly clear: Sasuke had knocked her out to protect her, fearing that if he hadn't, she would've followed the two brothers-incarnate, gotten in between them, and inevitably gotten hurt or worse. Sakura thought back to a time when she had foolishly tried to get in between Sasuke and Naruto while they had been charging at each other with the Chidori and Rasengan. Both had realized the danger she was in, but neither had been able to stop. If Kakashi had not suddenly appeared and thrown both boys off of their original course and into objects that would catch their attacks, she likely would've died right then and there. And so, reluctantly, Sakura acknowledged Sasuke's reasoning, although she didn't approve of his methods.

It was a while before she and Kakashi—well, mostly her, because Kakashi needed her to carry him—had recovered enough to track down the two. They found them in the bottom of the now destroyed (though aptly named) Valley of the End. Sakura left Kakashi on the cliff side and went down to where they were, her eyes filled with sadness as she took in the sight of both boys having lost an arm. Without a word, she reached forward and began closing the wounds.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan." Naruto said with a smile, despite how beat up he was.

"Sakura..." Sasuke began weakly, "Never mind me..."

"For right now, shut up, so I can concentrate." Sakura told him.

Sasuke's gaze softened as he looked at the young woman. Even though she was battered herself and her right arm was badly burned, she was still beautiful.

"I'm sorry..." Sasuke said softly.

"Sorry? For what?" Sakura asked.

"For everything... up until now..."

"You should be." Sakura said flatly, although her shoulders began to shake as her tears began to fall, "Geez... Shannaro... you idiot!"

Had Sasuke just apologized to Sakura or had Indra finally apologized to Haruka? Or was it both? Neither of the two teens would ever truly know.

* * *

Whew! Finally finished! As I said before, this story is just meant to serve as a precursor to the Uchiha Clan series, which is why it is so short. Also, Ino and Hinata are obviously not cowards as the series goes on, but Hinata herself admits to having no confidence when the series begins, and it is implied during the Chunin Exams that the members of Team 10 are initially cowards who lack the courage to face strong enemies.


End file.
